Cyclist Viviani sprints to win stage 10 of Vuelta

MADRID, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Elia Viviani (Quick Step) won a bunch sprint to claim victory in stage 10 of the three week long Vuelta de Espana (Tour of Spain) cycle race on Tuesday.

The 177 kilometer flat stage between Salamanca and Fermoselle was always going to produce a sprint finish and with few opportunities for specialist sprinters in the coming week, it was a chance the specialist sprint teams were not going to miss.

Quick Step gave Viviani a textbook lead-out in the closing kilometers and with a flat, straight final 500 meters the Italian showed for the second time in the race that in ideal conditions he is the fastest rider in the peloton.

He finished ahead of World Champion, Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), who is still looking for his first stage in the race, and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo).

Meanwhile, despite several riders suffering punctures in the last 20 kilometers there was no change in the overall standing which are led by Sean Yates (Michelton-Scott) who has a one second lead over Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and 14 seconds over Valverde's teammate Nairo Quintana.

There was drama earlier in the stage when Italian rider Simone Petilli fell badly in the group and temporarily lost consciousness, before being taken to hospital with a suspected broken collar bone

Wednesday's stage 11 is a testing 207.8 kilometer stage which contains one second category and three third category climbs and generally rolling terrain between Ribera Sacra and Mombuey in North-West Spain and looks to be the ideal terrain for a breakaway to stick.